Josh Lesnick has been named president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels.
“Josh is the ideal person to lead us as we evolve to meet the growing needs of our distinguished member hotels, Alliance partners, and our valued customers and guests around the world,” says David Gabri, chairman. “He has a proven track record of creating winning cultures, driving meaningful innovation, and a tremendous passion for enhancing customer loyalty as evidenced by the five highly successful customer loyalty programs he has launched and managed.”
Prior to his new position, Lesnick served as executive vice president and CMO at Wyndham Hotel Group. In his new role, he will be responsible for all business operations and subsidiaries of Associated Luxury Hotels.
Serving as the third CEO in the organization’s 30-plus years, Lesnick started his position this month in the New York City office and headquarters in Orlando, Fla.
“Incredible changes are going on in our industry with respect to soft branding, loyalty services and distribution that are having a major impact on independent luxury hotels,” says Lesnick. “To have the opportunity to work with the very talented and passionate teams of ALHI and Worldhotels, creating a new approach to these challenges, will allow us to better serve the needs of such unique and independent hotels, their owners and guests.”
Lesnick brings years of hospitality experience and innovation to his new role. While at Wyndham, he oversaw a team of more than 1,200 sales, marketing and call center employees. Prior to that, Lesnick was president and CEO of Audience Rewards for six years; corporate vice president of customer loyalty, marketing and membership programs at Starwood Hotels and Resorts; Starwood Hotels’ vice president of hotel marketing, CRM and online marketing; and leader in corporate roles at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
“Together our goal is to build upon the decades of experience from both ALHI and Worldhotels to become the market leader in serving and supporting independent luxury-level hotels and resorts worldwide,” says Lesnick. “I look forward to leading the team and working with Dave to help guide Associated Luxury Hotels and our fantastic members to even greater heights in the future.”
Lesnick’s appointment is only the second of recent changes. Mark Sergot, the senior vice president of sales from Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, joined the company as its chief sales officer and Tom Santora, the former CMO and senior vice president of sales for Omni Hotels & Resorts was announced as the firm’s chief commercial officer.
“We’ve experienced considerable growth over the last several years through market effectiveness and expansion, acquisitions, organic growth, and particularly with the recent addition of Worldhotels to our Associated Luxury Hotels portfolio,” says Gabri. “The sky is now the limit to grow strategically with Josh at the helm, leading our significantly expanded teams in North America and abroad. He has the vision, skills, extensive experience and strong core values to guide the organization for our members’ benefit, as we build the industry’s best portfolio of ‘soft brand’ solutions and tools for independent luxury-level hotels and independent luxury hotel brands around the world. We could not be more pleased to have such an outstanding, highly accomplished executive, with proven talents within our business to be leading our team.”
